I’ve been having issues with my Netgear MoCA adapters lately and since they are now out of warranty (no more free replacements) I decided to look into other manufacturers. I picked up two used ActionTec ECB2200 adapters on eBay for a good price, figuring this way I would have spares if (when) these Netgear units die again.
Am I a digital hoarder?
I actually had a post with this title sitting in draft status for months in WordPress and never really got around to starting/finishing it. Then I saw Scott Johnson’s latest Extra Life comic.
Come on, Irene
(my apologies to Dexy’s Midnight Runners)
It’s been quiet here in the Tampa Bay area just under three months into the 2011 hurricane season, but it looks like Irene might give us our first tropical storm soaking next weekend. We’ll be keeping an eye on her for sure as the week progresses.
WebOS is dead … long live, er — uh, nevermind
Today, just six short months since announcing a slew of new WebOS devices, hp announced they are discontinuing the entire WebOS line. The successor to PalmOS and its related devices like the Pre just never took off and the TouchPad was pretty much dead-on-arrival, crushed by the iPad only 49 days after its release. It’s a sad end to a long, (relatively) proud line of Palm devices, dating back to the original Pilot 1000 in 1996. I can’t really mourn the death of hp/Palm devices though … since switching from my Treo 680 to the iPhone almost two years ago I never considering going back.
But …
HP’s press release doesn’t say that WebOS is dead. The wording instead suggests that the company will find some ways to extract value from its $1.2 billion Palm purchase, even if phones and tablets are off the table. In fact, according to a report yesterday in the Wall Street Journal, HP plans to expand webOS to household appliances and automobiles.
So while you may not be using WebOS on your new smartphone, you might be using it to wash your clothes. 😉
Happy birthday, Luxo, Jr. (and Pixar)
Twenty-five years ago (Aug. 17, 1986), “Luxo, Jr.,” a short depicting the misadventures of a rambunctious little desk lamp and his weary father, premiered in Dallas and did something no computer-animated film had done before: It made audiences laugh. The first film from Steve Jobs’ newly formed company Pixar and the second from director John Lasseter, “Luxo” launched the most successful and innovative animation studio since Walt Disney’s heyday in the 1930s.
I’ve enjoyed all of Pixar‘s films but it all started 25 years ago today with “Luxo.”
If you never knew why Pixar had that little hopping lamp in its logo, now you know. 😉 Happy birthday, little guy!
(Thanks for the link, Jaime!)
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (Part 2)
This afternoon we took my daughter to see “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2” (not in 3D, thank goodness). It’s hard to believe it’s been 14 years since J. K. Rowling first introduced us to the Boy Who Lived and 10 years since the first movie was released … and now, it’s all over.
Continue reading ‘Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (Part 2)’ »
SysAdmin Day 2011
Today is the last Friday of July, which means it’s time once again to thank your local system administrator(s) on System Administrator Appreciation Day. What, you don’t know what your sysadmin does, or who he/she is? Read this and I’m sure you’ll figure it out.
ZoneMinder
Last summer, my mini-tech project was installing some wireless internet cameras inside and outside the house so I could keep tabs on things while I was away. For the past year I’d just been using the built-in features of each of the cameras (motion detection, e-mail alerts, etc.) which was hit-or-miss since each manufacturer offered different features, some better implemented than others, and none of them perfect.
This setup was fine, but I wanted to be able to better manage the system and maybe even store more history of events (or “live” video) without having it be all e-mail messages with static image attachments. That’s what prompted me to search for open source camera management software, and I that’s how I found ZoneMinder.
WIJFR: The Once and Future King
The whole world knows and loves this book. It is the magical epic of King Arthur and his shining Camelot; of Merlin and Owl and Guinevere; of beasts who talk and men who fly, of wizardry and war. It is the book of all things lost and wonderful and sad. It is the fantasy masterpiece by which all others are judged.
As a slight change to my regular WIJFR posts, this one should be WIAFR (What I Almost Finished Reading).
It’d been a while since my daughter and I had read a book together so back in Mid-May we started “The Once and Future King” by T. H. White.
Cars 2
This afternoon we caught a matinee showing of Pixar’s latest film, “Cars 2.”
My random thoughts (as usual, no spoilers):
- there were some great “cameos” like Sig Hansen and the Northwestern from “Deadliest Catch” as Crabby, and Bruce Campbell as American spy-car Rod “Torque” Redline (an obvious nod to Campbell’s character Sam Axe on “Burn Notice“).
- in Radiator Springs, the movie playing at the drive-in is “The Incrediblemobiles”
- I noticed one of the advertisements along the racetrack was for “Lassityre” (presumably a reference to Pixar’s Chief Creative Office, John Lasseter)
- in Paris, I though I saw the restaurant from Ratatouille
Of course, there are a ton of easter eggs that I missed … those are just the ones I noticed and remembered.
As for the movie itself? Well … it was okay. It hasn’t been getting great reviews and I can kinda understand why. Unlike the Toy Story sequels, “Cars 2” doesn’t feel, well … original, and lacks the emotional power of Pixar’s previous films (think about the incinerator scene in “Toy Story 3” or the first 10 minutes of “Up” for example). It’s just a James Bond/Jason Bourne spy-thriller story with the Cars characters. There’s also way too much of Mater and probably more guns and explosions than “The Incredibles.”
Don’t get me wrong … I enjoyed it. The car references and jokes were funny, and there was certainly a lot of action. It was a good movie, but I expect great movies from Pixar. Even the new Toy Story short before the film didn’t seem to have that Pixar magic that the shorts usually posses. I guess it just seems like it’s now too easy for them to just crank out “new” stuff by re-using their “old” stuff.
I saw a poster for “Brave” (the next film) in the theater … hopefully that one re-captures the spirit of Pixar’s previous works when it comes out next year.